While the world we live in today is full of divorce and remarriage, it did happen before this last generation. While not in the numbers as today I have run into divorces in the early 1900s. Either way divorce and remarriage happened, how do we add all of this to our family trees? It depends on what kind of family tree you are making, it is just for research or for decoration. Are you using a pedigree chart or a family group sheet? Maybe you are using a five generation ancestor chart. Below we will go over different ways to add everyone to your genealogy.
In genealogy you want to make sure that everyone is added to your family tree. I know in my family, once you are in the family you are in for life even if you get divorced and then remarried. The more people the better. But you may need multiple charts to add everyone. On a five generation ancestor chart you only add your biological family. Even if anyone is divorced you put only your biological family because you are just putting your parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc. So there are no siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and such to muddy the waters. While this may seem not very inclusive from a genealogical sense, the ancestors in the five generation chart are only the biological connections.
So what do you use for all the people who may not be biologically related, or are half or step relatives? A family group sheet is what you would use for each family because they have places for previous or subsequent marriages. You could also make a family group sheet for each marriage. An example in my family I would make one for my mom with my biological father and my sister. Then I would make another for my mom and her second husband and my sister from that marriage. While I may consider my “step” father as my dad for genealogical purposes he still needs to be known for future generations as my stepdad.
While the above choices are great and I have both, more people today use online family tree builders such as Ancestry and FamilySearch. These allow you to put in all marriages and to add children to the correct spouses. You can add marriage dates and divorce dates and the best part is you can add the sources to back it all up, like birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses and divorce decrees. Many of these online programs will also let you print out the charts.
I know it can be tricky sometimes to know how to handle all the different ways families are combined. In my own family I consider my paternal stepfamily my family more than my actual paternal biological family. But in a few generations my progeny will need the ability to look back and see their actual ancestors. Plus we always have the ability to leave notes about what happened and/or any stories in both written and/or online charts. We hope you find the best choice for you and your family when it comes to making your family pedigree.
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